Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- transitive verb To make ashamed or uneasy; disconcert. synonym: embarrass.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To confuse or confound, as by suddenly exciting a consciousness of guilt, error, inferiority, etc.; destroy the self-possession of; make ashamed or dispirited; put to confusion.
- To stand or be confounded; lose self-possession.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To destroy the self-possession of; to confuse or confound, as by exciting suddenly a consciousness of guilt, mistake, or inferiority; to put to shame; to disconcert; to discomfit.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb cause to be embarrassed; cause to feel self-conscious
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word abash.
Examples
-
“And sore must be the storm / That could abash the little bird / That kept so many warm.”
History of a Suicide Jill Bialosky 2011
-
“And sore must be the storm / That could abash the little bird / That kept so many warm.”
History of a Suicide Jill Bialosky 2011
-
Admiration was not in it, for it did not agitate; nor audacity, for it did not abash; but something that thrilled warm through blood and nerves, that filled her with a glad submission to some power, absolute yet tender, and caused her to turn . . .
Louisa May Alcott Susan Cheever 2010
-
Then said Brynhild, “Ill to abash folk of their mirth; prithee do not so; let us talk together for our disport of mighty kings and their great deeds.”
-
Judah or Israel, descended from the rocks and caverns in which he dwelt in abstracted solitude, to abash earthly tyrants in the midst of their pride, by discharging on them the blighting denunciations of Divine Majesty, even as the cloud discharges the lightnings with which it is fraught on the pinnacles and towers of castles and palaces.
The Talisman 2008
-
You must find those ADULTS to expect the abash these themes.
Breaking Up Is Not BreakingAway: The Pseudo-Empowerment of Kelly Clarkson | PopPolitics.com 2005
-
You must find those ADULTS to expect the abash these themes.
Breaking Up Is Not BreakingAway: The Pseudo-Empowerment of Kelly Clarkson | PopPolitics.com 2005
-
You must find those ADULTS to expect the abash these themes.
Breaking Up Is Not BreakingAway: The Pseudo-Empowerment of Kelly Clarkson | PopPolitics.com 2005
-
You must find those ADULTS to expect the abash these themes.
Breaking Up Is Not BreakingAway: The Pseudo-Empowerment of Kelly Clarkson | PopPolitics.com 2005
-
He did not abash me by causelesly laying my disorder on his story, and by offering to discontinue or postpone it.
Comments
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.